Developing countries to deal with challenges on their own: PM

New Delhi, Dec 19 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today said that developing countries will find their own ways to deal with challenges like financial crisis, climate change or terrorism as developed countries have no monopoly on good ideas. Addressing at a function to mark the 75th birthday of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Dr Singh said, “The response of the developed countries to the challenges of our times, be it financial crisis or climate change or terrorism, shows that they have no monopoly on good ideas. We in the developing world wish to work with the developed, but we have to find our own ways to deal with these challenges.” “The imperatives of development, of the well-being of our people, and the logic of democratic politics dictate this. We are after all answerable to our people,” he added. “All human challenges today have become global challenges. Our problems have become global, our responses remain national or, at best, regional. One reason for this could be the inherent weakness of global institutions. Another could be the enduring strength of national interests,” he said. “Consider the area of economic policy making, a subject that many of you here have been interested in for a lifetime. Why have global institutions failed? What can we do to repair them, to strengthen them, to make them more broad-based?, he asked. Dr Singh further said that development and welfare are not the end-all and be-all of human endeavour. Freedom is. And freedom has many manifestations. Economic, social, political, intellectual, religious and so on. “Pursuing development and seeking welfare within the framework of a liberal democracy are not an easy journey for a poor country like ours. Many nations started this journey with us and drifted away. Some chose not to walk this path, others were denied that opportunity,” he added The Prime Minister expressed wonder over the manner in which “some nations” control international institutions. “I am often amazed by the jealousy with which nations guard their control over international institutions even as they speak of the virtues of globalization and democracy! The time has come for the global polity to catch up with the times and address the challenges posed by the evolving global economy,” he said. “The debate on globalization has become too straight-jacketed and divided between those who seek only global solutions and those who seek national ones. It has become divided between those who remain obsessed with the ideologies of the market and those who adhere to the ideologies of Statism,” he added. “We have long rejected such stereotypes and such ideological straight-jacketing of policies. We have walked the pragmatic Middle Path, and will continue to do so. We must learn to walk on both legs,” he said. (ANI)